The rights group said Tuesday its investigators visited on May 15-16 during a humanitarian cease-fire and compiled the names of 59 people killed in aerial attacks, including at least 35 children.
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Houthi rebels closed down the surrounding area in the centre of the city after Monday night’s attack, only allowing through emergency services to help evacuate the victims, witnesses said.
Six houses were hit in Saada, as were an empty school, a cultural center, five markets and a petrol station crowded with motorists, according to the report.
Belkis Wille, one of the researchers, said “Yemen has been absolutely brought to its knees in this war”. A military alliance led by Saudi Arabia has been bombing Houthi positions in Sanaa since March.
Further south, in Dhaleh province, forces opposed to the Huthis said today that they had killed 167 rebels and captured 30 in three days of heavy fighting.
Civilians many not be able to leave, due to fuel shortages, he added. The Iran-backed rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, last September and control much of the country’s north.
A week of UN-brokered talks in Geneva earlier this month failed to narrow differences. This declaration violated the laws of war because it fails to distinguish between civilians and legitimate military targets, Human Rights Watch said. Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces have carried out airstrikes killing dozens of civilians in Saada City, in northern Yemen, since April 2015 in apparent violation of the laws of war.
Andreas Krieg, a consultant to the Qatar armed forces and a lecturer at King’s College in London, said the coalition was seeking to avoid civilian casualties.
“The coalition’s aerial bombing of Saada killed dozens of civilians, devastating entire families”, said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
He stressed that the Huthis “use civilians as human shields” by hiding among them.
Human Rights Watch observed Houthi vehicle-mounted anti-aircraft weapons in Saada City.
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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday censured the airstrike, saying the incident underscores the imperative that “the parties to the conflict must end the fighting and return to the negotiation table as the only possible way to achieve a durable peace in Yemen”.
